Advocates for neutrality seem married to a romantic view of the university as limited to faculty offices and seminar rooms that create a forum for “diverse viewpoints and open dialogue and debate,” isolated from the stakes of social crises and material injustices. But, by further positioning the university as a political actor in local policy and global finance, administrators have turned Yale from an open forum to a one-sided force on an array of social and economic issues. A neutrality policy that restrains what leaders say, but gives them free rein over what they do, won't return the university to the ideal form that some envision.
September 22, 2024